6 OCTOBER 29, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Tensions rise after counter-protesters crash
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDO@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
A few dozen people marched in
the Ridgewood Tenants Union
(RTU)’s “No Room For Racists”
protest to denounce what they say are
“racists tactics” by Councilman Robert
Holden on Saturday, Oct. 24, when
they were met with a group of counterprotesters
chanting, “Four more years!”
The march began at the Queens Center
Mall where RTU protesters gathered. Before
the march began, organizers spoke
with police offi cers who asked them not
to clash with counter protesters along
the way — but organizers said their
demonstration was a nonviolent protest,
and that counter-protesters needed to be
monitored.
Once online Facebook groups in
Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth and
Middle Village caught wind of the
planned protest, some members began
posting a call to action to counteract it.
Some residents stated RTU was “planning
a riot,” some called them “thugs,”
and some aligned them with other Black
Lives Matter groups who organized
the Maspeth protest against police
unions that resulted in U.S. fl ags being
taken from private homes and burned on
Oct. 6.
Mike Papa, a member of the Glendale-
Middle Village Coalition, called for the
community to “join forces” to “stand
up against this hate-filled group of
anarchists.”
RTU was also notifi ed of threats of
violence made by members of a Middle
Village Militia group.
However, RTU was not among the
Black Lives Matter groups in Queens that
organized the protest in Maspeth.
“We are not the same group but want
to make it clear that we do not have any
problems with burning American fl ags
and that’s because BLACK LIVES and
the lives of people of color matter more
than your fucking fl ags,” RTU wrote in
a statement. “We will stand up to racism
ALWAYS.”
On Saturday, Raquel Namuche, an
organizer with the RTU, said the group
was not there to “instigate other racists
because that puts people of color in
danger.”
“Our mission of our group is to build
the power of tenants in Ridgewood,
Middle Village, Glendale and Maspeth,”
said Namuche. “Our members live in
Middle Village, Maspeth, Glendale and
certainly in Ridgewood. When Robert
Holden says things like, ‘My constituents
stand for Blue Lives Matter,’ that is wrong
because we don’t stand for that. We’re
here to say Robert Holden and racists
like him need to be voted out.”
The march began at about 1 p.m. and
proceeded down Eliot Avenue then
Caldwell Avenue. Chants included “No
Room for Holden, No Room for Racists,”
with signs that read “Defund the police”
and “Respect existence or expect
resistance.”
RTU cited Holden’s recent bill, Intro
2116, in which he’s seeking to fully repeal
the city’s ban on police offi cers’ use of
chokeholds.
The bill has support from Queens
Councilman Eric Ulrich, as well as several
police unions including the New
York City Police Benevolent Association
and the New York City Sergeants Benevolent
Association.
When the march reached Caldwell
Avenue and 75th Street, a barricade
was placed by the NYPD to separate
counter-protesters from the “No Room
For Racists” march.
Counter-protesters were sporting
“Trump 2020” and “Back the Blue”
fl ags, hats and T-shirts, while chanting
“U.S.A.!” “Go home” and “Trump, Trump,
Photos by Dean Moses
Trump.”
For a few moments, the “No Room For
Racists” protesters — who chanted, “No
Trump, No KKK, No Fascists U.S.A.” and
“El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido The
people united will never be defeated” —
and the counter-protesters chanted at
each other.
Once the “No Room For Racists” protesters
moved to continue their march,
the counter-protesters began to follow
them closely behind.
Papa said they were following them to
“ensure that they don’t trespass on private
property and rip down American fl ags
and set them on fi re.”
“Since the police are now powerless
due to Mayor de Blasio to be able to make
any arrests on off enses like that, we’re
just here to keep an eye on these guys
until they’re gone from our neighborhood,”
Papa said through a bullhorn.
“They don’t want to engage in a dialogue.
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